Geek Trivia

Think you’re a fan of the quirky 1990 Christmas hit Home Alone? Maybe you are, but even if you really like the movie you’ve probably got nothing on Poland. Why Poland? Why Home Alone?

It all came about because of a perfect intersection of ideologies, events, and the release date of the movie. Home Alone was released shortly after the fall of the Berlin Wall and the general retreat of the Iron Curtain’s influence, if you will, on Poland. At the time, the Polish opinion of American culture was at a high and Poles across the country were bingeing on American TV shows, movies, and other imports.

When Home Alone came to Poland, it was watched hundreds of thousands of times across the country before it left the theaters and shortly thereafter playing Home Alone became a Christmas tradition on par with the popularity of Christmas classics like Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer in the United States.

In fact, in 2010 the national station that had broadcast rights opted not to show Home Alone at Christmas and the degree of protest that ensued by Home-Alone-loving Poles was rowdy enough that you’d have thought someone proposed canceling Christmas itself. When the station relented and showed Home Alone, it became the most watched broadcast of the entire 2010 holiday season.